Vegas 7s Rugby

The 2014 Rugby season feels like it REALLY kicks off with the now annual Vegas International 7's Tournament. If you didn't catch the action on NHC today, you can see some of the playoffs tomorrow afternoon on NBC. The Fiji v New Zealand game today was probably our favorite so far; although the USA victory over Spain was exciting as well, featuring some well-worked tries. If we had to make a prediction, we'd have to go with the All-Blacks and South Afrika in the final, but in sevens one missed tackle can change any game.

In the week leading up to the event, the Vegas Invitational hosts 80-some club and school teams from around the world. While we face -40 degree weather and some more school closings this week, it's hard not to dream of spring and summer weather and getting out to play some rugby.

Some high school girls rugby 15's matches could be found the last few days, with defending National Champion Fallbrook jumping out to three big wins:
Fallbrook 66 Snow Canyon, Utah 0 (Thur)
Fallbrook 81 Bishop O'Down HS, NorCal 0 (Fri)
Fallbrook 81 Lashburn Lucky 10 (Sat)

In 7's action, the Atlantis high school team made its first-ever debut. Atlantis is a famous touring invitational team made up of players from all around the country. As Coach Noe once put it, "anyone who is anyone in sevens plays for Atlantis" at some point in their careers. Seeing them branch out into the lower age-groups is pretty exciting and a big step. Wisconsin's Rebecca Haight joined the touring team for their debut and played in a bunch of their matches. They made it to the Cup Finals, losing to British Columbia's u-18 team 32-12.

  Our friends to the north also sent two teams to represent Minnessota: M-Tundra 1 and 2. The both lost in the Plate Semifinals, but cetainly got a chance to get outdoors and play some good teams.

Plate Semis:
Tundra 0 Hilo Reign 61
Tundra 2, 5 Apexa 24